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Bill Shoemaker: A Horse's Best Friend

Jockey Bill Shoemaker with Horse of the Year Forego and his owner, Martha Gerry, in 1976. (Photo courtesy of Horsephotos.com)

Bill Shoemaker

Birthdate: August 19, 1931

Birthplace: Fabens, Texas

Family: divorced three times, daughter Amanda

Died: Oct. 12, 2003

Did a racehorse have a better friend?

At 4 feet 11 inches tall and 98 pounds, it didn’t look like Bill Shoemaker could muscle a few sacks of groceries, let alone control a head-strong Thoroughbred a dozen times his weight.

Still, Shoemaker personified that mysterious bond between horse and rider. He communicated with an innate light touch on the reins, coaxing the horse into the action, gentling it with his hands.

“Horses would run for him, and I've always wanted to know why,” legendary Hall of Famer jockey Eddie Arcaro said in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “Shoe got them to run without pushing them. He takes such light hold of a horse that he could probably ride with silk threads for reins.”

With those small and delicate hands, Shoemaker could make any horse settle and put any horse where he wanted. And boy, would they run when the pint-sized jockey said go. He rode 40,350 horses and won with 8,833 of them (a record at the time of his retirement). He won 11 Triple Crown races, 1,009 stakes races, ten national money titles and five times was the leading jockey by races won. Shoemaker was tagged the greatest athlete of his generation.

Billy Lee Shoemaker was born prematurely on a small cotton farm in Fabens, Texas in 1931. He weighed just one pound, 13 ounces, scarcely a hand’s length long. The doctor predicted that the premature baby would not survive the night. But his grandmother put him in a shoe box and warmed it in the kitchen stove to keep him alive. The homemade incubator launched the tiny baby into a life of defying the odds.

When his parents divorced, Shoemaker went to California to live with his father in El Monte, Calif. A wrestler in high school, he never lost a match but dropped out of school at age 14 to ride for $75 a month at a La Puente, Calif., horse ranch.

A bat-eared wisp of a kid, he rode 219 winners in his rookie season, second-most in the United States. In 1953, Shoemaker set the world record for most winners (485) in a year -- a mark that held up for two decades. He won purses of more than $123 million. Known for his even temperament, Shoe’s riding style of sitting almost still on a horse was emulated by generations of jockeys.

He was equally as quiet when interviewed. In 1950, a Newsweek writer described the jockey as someone who "can make a whole conversation out of a nod."

Shoemaker's first Kentucky Derby victory came aboard Swaps in 1955. Two years later, his second Derby score was surely within his sights. Seemingly cruising to victory aboard Gallant Man, he mistook the sixteenth pole for the finish line, stood up in the stirrups and allowed Iron Liege to win by a nose.

Shoemaker didn't have any major injuries until he was well into his 40s. His luck deserted him when he took a frightening tumble on Bal Brush in a multi-horse pileup. A trailing horse stepped on his right thigh, shattering the bone. In a dramatic comeback 13 months later, Shoemaker returned to Santa Anita winning with each of his three mounts that day.

In 1986, at age 54, he became the oldest jockey to win a Kentucky Derby when he guided Ferdinand through a small opening on the rail in a ride considered his greatest ever.

A year after retiring to become a trainer Shoemaker lost control of his Ford Bronco and careened down a 50-foot embankment along a California highway on April 8, 1991. His spinal cord was severed and he was paralyzed with little or no movement below the armpits.

But after months of rehabilitation, the indomitable Shoemaker returned to horse training at Santa Anita using a mouth-controlled wheelchair. He retired in November 1997 with a record of 90 wins in 713 starts and $3,699,439 in earnings. He was the honorary chairman of the Paralysis Project, dedicated to improving spinal cord research and treatment, until shortly before his death at his Los Angeles home on October 12, 2003.

"The most important thing," he told an interviewer, "is don't ever, ever, ever give up. A few times I didn't think I was going to make it. But I never quit."

Fun Facts

Shoemaker was the oldest rider (at age 54) and one of the youngest (at age 23) to win the Kentucky Derby.

He won races in parts of six decades. He continued to ride for 21 years after breaking Johnny Longden’s record for career victories at 6,033 aboard Dares J. at Del Mar.

In addition to his Triple Crown successes, Shoemaker won a record 11 editions of the Santa Anita Handicap and eight editions each of the Santa Anita Derby, Hollywood Derby, Hollywood Gold Cup, San Luis Obispo Handicap, and Oak Tree Invitational. He won the Blue Grass Stakes and the Del Mar Futurity six times apiece.

He rode champions Swaps, Spectacular Bid, John Henry, Gallant Man, Damascus and Forego. He won in England, Ireland, South Africa and Argentina.

He rode 8,833 winners, ran second 6,136 times and finished third 4,987 times.

At age 55, he rode Ferdinand to victory over Alysheba in the 1987 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Terry Conway

Terry Conway has been a regular contributor to the Blood-Horse magazine since 2003.

He is a racing correspondent to ESPN.com, and his work has also appeared on PaulickReport.com and Equidaily.com.

Conway is the longtime racing writer for Pennsylvania Equestrian magazine. In addition, he writes about the art world, business entrepreneurs, historical topics and travel destinations for a variety of national and regional magazines as well as prominent daily newspapers and websites.

Conway, his wife, Jane, and their Toller Retriever Smarty reside in Wawaset Park in Wilmington, Del. From the 1880s to 1918 Wawaset Park was the state fairgrounds and regularly hosted Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. It was also home to a top-tier racetrack that attracted famous trotters such as Wert Willis and Stoeckles. A couple of hitching posts still remain and occasionally, a time-worn horse shoe is dug up in the neighborhood. Wawaset was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Terry Conway

Terry Conway has been a regular contributor to the Blood-Horse magazine since 2003.

He is a racing correspondent to ESPN.com, and his work has also appeared on PaulickReport.com and Equidaily.com.

Conway is the longtime racing writer for Pennsylvania Equestrian magazine. In addition, he writes about the art world, business entrepreneurs, historical topics and travel destinations for a variety of national and regional magazines as well as prominent daily newspapers and websites.

Conway, his wife, Jane, and their Toller Retriever Smarty reside in Wawaset Park in Wilmington, Del. From the 1880s to 1918 Wawaset Park was the state fairgrounds and regularly hosted Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. It was also home to a top-tier racetrack that attracted famous trotters such as Wert Willis and Stoeckles. A couple of hitching posts still remain and occasionally, a time-worn horse shoe is dug up in the neighborhood. Wawaset was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.